Ready or not, Thanksgiving is almost here

Nov 6, 2018

Ready or not, Thanksgiving is almost here and while there’s nothing you can do now to stop your uncle from bringing up politics at the dinner table, you can tackle a few kitchen tasks early to get ready for the holiday. None of these jobs take too long, but getting them crossed off your to-do list now will make your holiday cooking go easier later.

Run self-clean on your oven - If your oven smells a little when you first turn it on, it’s probably old food in the bottom and the self-clean cycle can help. It’s when the oven super heats and burns off all that nastiness that’s been stuck inside since you last ran the self-clean cycle. It typically takes a few hours and you should probably be home while it’s running, since the appliance basically becomes a self-contained inferno.

Get your knives sharpened- Did you know dull knives are easier to cut yourself with? So head into Thanksgiving prep with freshly sharpened knives and keep everyone safer. Some kitchen shops offer the service and there are even mobile knife sharpeners in some areas who’ll come do it at your place.

Test your oven temperature - Following the recipe to a T doesn’t help if your oven temperature is off, but finding out is easy. Just get a little oven thermometer, stick it in there and when the oven heats up, make sure the thermometer matches what the oven says. If it doesn’t, check your oven’s manual to recalibrate before Turkey Day.

Wipe down the dishes you use only once a year- You probably haven’t seen your gravy boat since last Christmas, and chances are the same goes for your big roasting rack, the meat carving tools, and pie plates. So instead of waiting until the night before Thanksgiving to get them out and clean, get out all the once-a-year dishes and start scrubbing now.

Clean out your fridge and freezer - There’s never enough room in the fridge for all the leftovers so make your game of refrigerator Tetris easier by getting rid of some of the old stuff in there. Ditching expired or unidentifiable food now will make cleaning up so much easier or you can save your fun to celebrateNational Clean Out Your Fridge Day on November 15th.